It’s an iconic image of the Old West, the cavalry coming to the rescue.

After the Civil War, there was a good chance that cavalry would have been made up of African-American soldiers making a name for themselves. They became known as the Buffalo Soldiers and were a welcome sight for travelers in the Old West hoping to reach their destinations safely.

Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?

Buffalo Buffalo Soldiers set up: In 1913, a fort in the Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona became home to the Army's 10th Cavalry, one of two African-American cavalry units that Native Americans referred to as Buffalo Soldiers. The units were formed in 1866, while the Army was segregated, to help control the frontier.(Photo: Photo: Library of Congress)

The U.S. troops commonly called the Buffalo Soldiers were actually a collection of Army units that came together after the Civil War.

“They were originally formed in 1866,” said Steve Gregory, museum tech with the museums at Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista in southern Arizona. “It started with six regiments, then that was pared down to the four we’re familiar with by 1868 or 1869.”

The first four units that became known as Buffalo Soldiers were the 9th Cavalry, 10th Cavalry, 24th Infantry and 25th Infantry. Those groups spent time in locations as varied as Vermont, Kansas and Hawaii. Fort Huachuca bases its claim of being the true home of the Buffalo Soldiers on the fact that it is the only base that hosted all members of the group.

The first group to be garrisoned at Fort Huachuca were members of the 24th Infantry from 1892 through 1896. The 25th Infantry and 9th Cavalry began arriving after the Spanish-American War in 1891, before departing for the Philippines in 1900. The entire 10th Cavalry came from Vermont starting in late 1913.

“That’s when they expanded the post with more officers’ housing and barracks for the troops,” Gregory said. “The 10th was here to augment the military force on the border.”

During World War II, members of the 92nd and 93rd Infantry divisions also were known as Buffalo Soldiers.

Indian wars to world war

This painting hangs in the Fort Huachuca Museum as part of the Buffalo Soldier exhibit.(Photo: Weldon B. Johnson/azcentral.com)

Buffalo Soldiers performed a variety of tasks that helped shape the West (and the world) during their time at Fort Huachuca.

From their origins until the mid-1890s, they guarded stagecoaches and settlers from Indians and robbers during the period of western expansion.

They fought in the Spanish-American War and in the Philippines.

In 1916 they entered Mexico with Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing in an attempt to capture (or kill) Francisco “Pancho" Villa.

They took part in the Battle of Ambos Nogales, which was considered to be the only World War I battle fought on American soil. The battle was a conflict between United States and Mexican forces (believed to be influenced by German instigators) along the border on Aug. 27, 1918.

Buffalo Soldiers fought in both world wars before the groups were absorbed by other Army units after World War II.

Why the name Buffalo Soldiers?

This 10th Cavalry plaque was designed by Anna R. Russell Jones, an African-American Woman in the Women's Army Corps. It is part of the Buffalo Soldier exhibit at the Fort Huachuca Museum.(Photo: Weldon B. Johnson/azcentral.com)

There are several stories about how the Buffalo Soldiers acquired the name.

One theory was that Native American warriors they fought against reportedly said the curly hair of the African soldiers resembled a buffalo’s coat.

“There are all sorts of debates about the name,” Gregory said. “A lot of time you’ll hear it was because of their heroism. That the Indians honored them, saying they fought like buffaloes. But you’ll find other accounts from the Indians saying, ‘They were just soldiers to us. We hated them as much as we hated the whites.’ ”

Perhaps the earliest mention of the name in print is in a piece called “A Scout With the Buffalo Soldiers," written by Frederic Remington for "The Century" magazine on April 6, 1889. He does not explain the origin of the of the name in the article.

Charles Hancock, president of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers, a non-profit group dedicated to spreading the word of the history of the soldiers, mentions the following story as a possible origin of the name.

Hancock speaks of Pvt. John Randall, a soldier with the 10th Cavalry who was charged with escorting a pair of civilians on a hunting party. Randall and company were soon attacked by a band of about 70 Cheyenne warriors. The civilians were killed immediately, as was Randall’s horse.

Using his horse as a shield, Randall held off the warriors, killing 13, until help arrived. He was shot twice and stabbed multiple times but continued to fight.

“The Indians started telling the story about the new breed of soldiers they encountered,” Hancock said. “One who had fought like a wounded buffalo. They said, ‘We shot him and stabbed him and he would not die.’ ”

Col. Charles Young

This portrait and plaque tell the story of Col. Charles Young, who served at Fort Huachuca. It is part of an exhibit on the Buffalo Soldiers at the Fort Huachuca Museum.(Photo: Weldon B. Johnson/azcentral.com)

Fort Huachuca was an incubator of sorts for some prominent people, African-American and otherwise, in the military.

One standout figure during the Buffalo Soldiers' time at Fort Huachuca was Col. Charles Young. Born in 1864 to parents who had been enslaved, Young enrolled at the United States Military Academy and became just the third African-American West Point graduate. He enrolled in the academy at the encouragement of his father, who had escaped slavery and served in the Army during the Civil War.

Young graduated in 1889 but had to wait three months for his first assignment as the Army did not allow black officers to command white troops. He was initially assigned to the 10th Cavalry, which was stationed in Nebraska before the move to Fort Huachuca. He also served in the 9th Cavalry and 25th Infantry as well as the 9th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War.

During the search for Pancho Villa in 1916, Young (at that time a major) led his troops in a charge against Villa’s forces at Aguas Calientes, Mexico, and suffered no losses. He also led his troops to successfully relieve a 13th Cavalry unit that had been pinned down by Mexican government troops.

His actions at that time are believed by some historians to have prevented a larger war between the U.S. and Mexico and he was promoted to lieutenant colonel for his efforts.

In 1917, he was promoted to colonel and served briefly as commander of Fort Huachuca. Unfortunately, later that year, he was forced to retire with a diagnosis of high blood pressure.

Young disagreed with the forced retirement and had hoped to command African-American troops in World War I, according to his National Park Service biography. He was one of only three black commissioned officers in the Army at the time and some thought he was forced to step down due to racial prejudice.

In an attempt to prove his fitness for duty, the 53-year-old Young got on his horse at his home in Ohio and rode to the War Department in Washington, D.C. He was denied the opportunity to serve during World War I but was recalled to service as a military attaché in Liberia in 1919.

Buffalo Soldier exhibit

Various uniforms worn by Buffalo Soldiers are depicted at the Fort Huachuca Museum near Sierra Vista.(Photo: Weldon B. Johnson/azcentral.com)

The museum at Fort Huachuca contains a detailed exhibit about the Buffalo Soldiers who served there.

The exhibit contains examples of uniforms worn by the Buffalo Soldiers from the Texas plains through World War II. It tells the stories of individual soldiers as well as the fabled units through photographs and other memorabilia.

The contributions of black women who served at Fort Huachuca also are highlighted. Those women served as nurses or in the Women’s Army Corps in the later years of the unit.

There also are mentions of celebrities and entertainers who visited the base to entertain the troops.

In addition to the Buffalo Soldier exhibit, visitors also can check out the Army Intelligence Museum. It showcases military intelligence from 1775 to the present with exhibits that include a World War II era German Enigma cipher machine.

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Buffalo Soldiers William McCurtis (left) and Jeff Gaskin stand at attention behind the new headstone to honor Isaiah Mays at All Soul's Cemetery. Mays was a Buffalo Soldier and Medal of Honor recipient who died at the Arizona State Hospital but was burried in an umarked grave in the cemetery behind the the hospital. The Republic

Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club members Chaz Jackson, left, and Gene Hester display a picture of Medal of Honor recipient Cpl. Isaiah Mays, a buffalo soldier who died in 1925. Michael Schennum / The Republic

Arizona Buffalo Soldiers' Stanley Sebastian holds an American flag as he lead the Buffalo Soldiers in on Memorial Day at Pioneer and Military Memorial Park in Phoenix on Monday, May 26, 2014. Patrick Breen/The Republic

Michelle London-Marable (center) her grandchildren Amare Sterling, 7, and Alfonzo Sterling, 13, (right) of the Buffalo Soldiers of the Arizona Territory and Ladies and Gentleman of the Regiment, salute during the Mesa MLK Celebration parade along Center Street in Mesa on Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 20, 2015. David Wallace/The Republic

Who's buried in Phoenix? Born into a North Carolina town bound by slavery, Ambrose Skinner enlisted in an all- Black infantry in 1863 and fought out the Civil War as a private, landing in Louisiana by the end. He then joined a regiment of Buffalo Soldiers. Skinner was stationed at Fort Quitman, Texas, until 1874. There would be no government record of Skinner for the next 15 years, until he filed for a military pension. He was denied. Skinner then married, and the couple had four children in Phoenix. He was eventually granted a military pension. Skinner died in 1922. and was buried in Phoenix without a marker. But about 90 years later, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War secured a military headstone from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He is at Greenwood Lawn Memory Cemetery and Mortuary. The Republic

Background check: The museum is on an active military base. If you do not have a Department of Defense-issued identification card, be prepared to undergo a background check. Expect to spend about 20-30 minutes getting through security. Visitors 18 and older need a government-issued ID such as a drivers license or passport. Those whose drivers license or identification card aren't compliant with the Real ID Act of 2005 will need a second form of ID.